See further: through the clouds
What is above the clouds?
Climbing up and seeing what was previously hidden from us is a great metaphor for the vertical learning humans can do.
Vertical learning is a term for our adult development. We can shift our thinking stage. When we do, what was previously obscure becomes clear—we are able to reflect on things we were subject to.
Transformation
The more I can see, the wiser, more timely, more systematic and informed my actions and decisions are likely to be because more relevant information, connections and dynamic relationships become more visible.
Suzanne Cook Greuter
Adults and children can and do transform. By this I mean we shift not only what we know and feel but the very way we know.
This is a step change. These developmental stages—leaving us more able to deal with uncertainty and complexity—are like seeing a new world. A world that has been hidden to us previously.
A visual metaphor is it is like climbing through clouds.
In this metaphor, when we are below the clouds we can’t conceptualize what is above.
If anything, as we climb up and through the clouds the picture becomes less clear. What world are we hiking into?
All of a sudden we are above the clouds. Our new way of knowing the world around us lets us stand back and consider things we were previously subject to.
In this metaphor those things are the mountain peaks and ridges we could not previously see.
When we are subject to something it has us. We can’t reflect on the influences those things have on us.
In this metaphor, when we climb above the clouds those things become object. We can see the clouds, see that they flow and move contained by the landscapes rather than holding us and limiting vision.
Meaning-making worldviews
From our new view of the world, a new worldview, we are able to take and get more perspectives. The perspectives of others, differences and diversity.
Adults can and do shift to distinct new worldviews—new ways of knowing revealing complexity. That includes our own self-complexity and the cultures and world around us. These discrete, non-linear changes allow us to actively take charge of things and concepts that we were previously subject to.
Examples
I once thought that all people learn things in basically the same way—the way I learned them. When students came to me with difficulty about an assignment or test, I thought the problem was theirs; I was being so clear and they were still not learning. I struggled and struggled to help them learn, but to no avail. I was subject to my own teaching and learning styles. I didn’t know different styles existed (because I figured everyone taught and learned like me), so I was powerless to change my style to meet the needs of diverse learners.
Jennifer Garvey Berger.*
I vividly remember being thrown out of Sunday School on my very first day. The teacher was talking about god and describing how he (a male god) was sitting on a cloud above us. From this vantage point he could see everything. This made no sense to me. I earnestly explained to the teacher that it could not be. God was heavier than water vapor and consequently would fall through the cloud to the ground. I was bemused by the reactions. I could not understand why a scientific inquiry would be rejected so completely. I was not able to think in abstract or consider that god and cloud may be a metaphor.
Useful?
Worldview shifts are associated with expanding circles of care, compassion and identity. The crises around us, such as climate, inequity and war, are pushing us all, challenging everyone to make sense of ourselves and the world in new, more connected and caring ways.
Resources
Links and credits
Jennifer Garvey-Berger’s quote is from her book Changing on the Job: Developing Leaders for a Complex World.
For more images, videos and articles on stories and transformation see:
- A developmental journey: power, perspectives and passion here>
- Lynette Thorstensen and Sushant Shrestha on the Power of diversity here>
- Barrett Brown on Communicating sustainability here>
- For more on what draws us in see Attractors: Strangely we keep getting pulled in here>
- Hidden stories: Shifting our thinking patterns here>
A visual index of articles about transformation is here>
Photos by Festina Lentívaldi, (be) Benevolution. Reuse: Creative Commons BY-NC 3.0 US. See Julian: enclosed in the alps for more here>
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